How a leaked call with a Cambodian leader landed Thai PM in a political storm
Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's 10-month-old government is teetering after a leaked phone call between her and Cambodian leader Hun Sen triggered public outrage and led to the exit of a key coalition partner.
In the audio, Paetongtarn, 38, refers to Hun Sen, a longtime family friend, as 'uncle' and appears to dismiss a senior Thai military commander's handling of a simmering border dispute. 'I would like to apologise for the leaked audio of my conversation with a Cambodian leader which has caused public resentment,' she said Thursday, as calls for her resignation intensified.
Bhumjaithai, the second-largest party in the ruling coalition, quit on Wednesday, seriously weakening the Peu Thai-led government's grip on parliament. The coalition now hangs by a thread, with two more partners meeting Thursday to assess their position.
As per a report by BBC, critics were quick to pounce on Paetongtarn's perceived deference to Hun Sen and her comments about the Thai military, which she said 'just wanted to look cool and said things that are not useful.'
Paetongtarn defended the conversation as a 'negotiation technique,' but the optics have been damaging. The Shinawatra family's deep ties with Cambodia's ruling Hun family—her father Thaksin and Hun Sen are longtime allies who refer to each other as 'godbrothers'—have long fuelled suspicions among Thai nationalists.
Hun Sen, who said he had shared the audio with 80 politicians, later posted the full 17-minute clip on Facebook.
Thailand's foreign ministry, in a letter to Cambodia's ambassador, expressed 'deep disappointment' over the leak of what it described as a 'private telephone conversation.' The leak, it warned, 'will severely affect ongoing efforts for both sides to resolve the problem in good faith.'
Border tensions flared last month after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash, plunging diplomatic ties to their lowest point in over a decade. Cambodia retaliated with sweeping bans on Thai imports, from produce to electricity and even Thai dramas, while both countries imposed new restrictions at the border.
Paetongtarn, the youngest PM in Thai history and only the second woman to hold the office (after her aunt Yingluck), rose to power last August after her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was ousted by a court ruling.
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